"The
Wild Life" mural was painted and installed in the surgery
cooridor of Children's Hospital Los Angeles and measures
90 feet in length and 10 feet in height. The mural was painted entirely
by children with special needs throughout the greater Los Angeles
area and by critically ill children currently in the hospital. The
mural was painted in mutilple panels on custom easels in order to
accommodate the various disabilities. Regardless of whether the
child is wheelchair bound or cannot stand for extended periods of
time, each child was able to paint on the individual panels, with
the assistance of a volunteer. Custom easels provided by Technifex,
made it possible for every child to participate and contribute to
the mural.

During “The Wild Life” project, “Karina
the Mime” and Curious George visited with the children
and volunteers and added a bit of comedy to the lives of each family.
We want to extend a big thank you to all the Universal
Studios Hollywood Volunteers for providing Curious George. In
summary, we don’t want to just provide therapy, but an experience
of relationships that will last a lifetime. It’s SCAF’s
desire not only to brighten the life experience of each child with
special needs , but also to enliven the different environments in
which they live.

The original design for this mural was inspired by Marc
Kolodziejczyk, the President and Founder of the Special
Children's Art Foundation and conceptualized by artists Nicole
Armitage and her father Frank Armitage.
"Animals are a means for children to find friendship and love",
stated Marc, "I wanted to bring warmth and a big smile to all
the ill children that cross through the corridor".

Nicole Armitage attended both Art Center College of Design as well
as California Institute of the Arts. She was a consultant for Walt
Disney Imagineering for over 13 years. Ms. Armitage now owns her
own art studio Armitage
Arts, that features custom murals, faux finishes, various wall
treatments, illustration and design and still freelances for WDI.

A native Australian, Frank
Armitage moved to Los Angeles in 1952 to work with the Walt
Disney Animation Studio on such films as Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty,
Mary Poppins and the Jungle Book. In 1977 Frank moved over to join
WDI where he painted murals for Animal Kingdom, Walt Disney World
and Tokyo Disney Seas. Some of Frank's most prominent illustration
work was published in Life magazine in 1971.

Once again we would
like to thank all of our sponsors and volunteers that made this
project a reality.

"I
wanted to thank everyone involved in the mural project "The
Wild Life" at Children's Hospital Los Angeles,which my daughter
was able to participate in. I especially want to thank Marc and
Priscila for all their hard work! My daughter, Annie, 7 1/2 years
old with significant special needs, had the time of her life! She
loved painting a portion of a giant jungle leaf and couldn't have
done it without her amazing assistants! And who could have guessed
a surprise visit from Curious George! That made MY day! Everything
was so well done, from the food to the live jazz music! What a great
opportunity for Annie to go out into the community and contribute
to something that will be enjoyed by millions of other children.
I hope the Foundation will include us in future projects. We loved
it!" -Kathryn
Gebler